Reader: Naomi Johnston

October 29, 2001

"Crazy Horse Speaks"

By

Sherman Alexie

Unsettling America, pp. 237-240

Biographical Information

Sherman Alexie, a Spokane Indian on his mother’s side, and a Coeur d’ Alene Indian on his father’s, was born in October 1966. He came into this world a hydrocephalic, and his doctors did not expect him to live. They predicted that at best, he would live with severe retardation. He surprised them all with his intellect, and was reading novels by the age of five. ("Official Sherman Alexie Biography," p1).

Alexie grew up in Wellpinit, Washington, living on the Spokane Indian Reservation. Throughout his academic career, he excelled in both academic studies, and basketball. His writing career began in college, in a poetry class. Since then, he has written several novels, books of poetry, and journal articles. He has also won at least 25 literary awards for his work. He currently lives in Seattle, Washington with his wife and child, where he continues to write.

Four of the Course Objectives important to the study of this particular poem includes:

1. Objective 1a- Involuntary (or forced) participation is especially expressed in the historical events described in the poem.
2. Objective 1b- Voiceless and Choiceless, is theme epitomized by the Eskimos described in Stanza VI.
3. Objective 3- especially the idea of reconnecting to a past not voluntarily forgotten. And, 3b- Native American Indian alternative narrative: "Loss and Survival"
4. Objective 5a- To discover the power of poetry and fiction to help "others" hear the minority voice and vicariously share the minority experience. A task accomplished through the imagery Alexie uses in showing the flipside to the stories of "how the west was won," and "how the savages were civilized."

Of the many layers of meaning in, "Crazy Horse Speaks," there exist both events in history, and the pattern of loss and survival that those events illustrate. This poem begins with an image of death, an end, and finishes with the anticipation of a new beginning. Throughout this poem, Alexie reconnects to the past of his Native American culture, and correlates the images of past battles, such as the Battle of Little Big Horn (Stanza II), to those battles fought today on Indian reservations, such as alcoholism and poverty (Stanzas III and IV).

Because "Crazy Horse Speaks" is written in poetic form, rather than as a piece of prose or a story, Alexie can move from one image to the next without the intrusion of linking words used to introduce or conclude thoughts needed in the rigid structure of a complete sentence.

And, although this particular poem does not use any notable rhyme or meter, Alexie does use, in at least one section, words as an instrument to create the sound and feeling of what he describes—the beating of a surviving heart.

Imagery is an important vehicle that ushers in recurring themes portrayed in this poem. The three most persistent of these ideas include the issue of voice and choice (the American Indians, of course being denied both), the idea of history being purposefully forgotten and locked away, and finally, of all Indians being packaged as savages of the same color (both literally on reservations, and in the minds of the White culture).

Alexie’s use of the words, "evidence" (Stanza I) and, "verdict" (Stanza VI), correlate to the Course Objective 5f-the "Dominant-Minority" relationship.

The first alludes to a force equivalent to a Native American DA who is stacking up the evidence against the criminal defendant—that being, of course, the dominant White culture. This idea empowers the Native American minority because in it, they are the subject. This idea is supported by the anticipation expressed in the final Stanza, "Whenever it all begins again / I will be waiting" (p 240).

In the second image, American Indians are the object. They are victims with history and traditions locked away and forgotten, "in a vault," like "skeletons," (or secrets) with "four walls around it" (Stanza 1). This image of confinement is also expressed in the ideas of being stuck "between the pages" (Stanza III), and having futures that are "tight and small an 8 X10 dream" (Stanza IV). These images are obvious in all but the second, and the final stanzas.

1. Why do you think Alexie says that he does "not have the strength / to use the word Love" (Stanza III)?
2. What point do you think Alexie is trying to get across when he says, "I am the mirror /practicing masks/ and definitions" (Stanza V)?

Dominant culture uses cutting words. It’s their words that cut. Alexie seems to be saying that because the word love is part of the dominant culture it is a painful word (Charley). Dictionaries contain definitions; this seems to be symbolic of sleeping between the definitions of the dominant culture (Liz). The dominant culture sets the rules and definitions. Using the word "love" doesn’t make sense because love was not expressed toward the Native American culture (Naomi).

By saying, "I am the mirror" he shows that he is a reflection of the dominant culture and that the reservation problems and poverty reflects the dominant culture’s laws. Being a "mirror" supports the idea that he wants to be anonymous. He didn’t want to carry the burden of the entire Indian race (Neely). He says he is "practicing masks and definitions;" he’s trying out different roles in both societies. He just wants to be himself—not some Indian guy. He wants recognition as someone with talents, abilities and individuality, who is also American Indian (Naomi). He didn’t want to have a definition (Liz).

Alexie mentions several historical facts to touch on broader issues. He works in layers. He may have used the Eskimos for illustrative purposes; to show sickness brought to Indians through smallpox blankets or the sorrow of being relocated far away from home (Naomi). This actually happened at the New York Museum of Natural History. One of the Eskimos actually survived. A lot of archeologist have dug up American Indian bodies and put them in museum exhibits. The Indian tribes are trying to get those bodies back. I think this is one of the more outrageous versions of this story. (Dr. White).

First stanza, he says he has found the evidence (of the Eskimos’) and if anything else like that happens he will be ready to write it down and record it (Charley). Loss and survival pattern is evident throughout (Dr. White).

Brown paper bag correlates the color of skin and alcoholism. Alcoholism is so prevalent on the reservation (Neely). It is an interesting correlation between the color of my skin and the brown paper bag wrapped around the bottle (Dr. White). The brown paper bag here seems to represent the worst kind of alcoholism. Alcohol that you see wrapped in a brown paper bag is always the cheap, bottom of the barrel booze. That seems significant in telling how deep the problems of poverty and alcoholism both are (Naomi). The brown paper bag is like their skin and it’s wrapped around that bottle (Liz). There are cultural factors; they were in contact with frontier people—the wilder people of the dominant culture. The Handsome Lake story mentions the Whites bringing over Whiskey (Dr. White).

This poem is effectively written (Naomi). The tone seems very different from Lone Ranger and Tonto, its not at all ironical (Dr. White). It is not at all humorous (Naomi). There is not a distance from it. The tone is serious (Dr. White).